1899 Map of Lebanon

About this map

Lebanon serves as the industrial and transportation hub of this late 19th-century landscape, where a dense network of rail lines converges. The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and the Lebanon Valley Branch cut through the central valley, connecting smaller settlements like Myerstown, Avon, and Richland. To the south, the Cornwall and Lebanon Railroad leads toward the prominent mining and furnace operations at Cornwall, situated at the base of South Mountain. The terrain transitions from the broad valley floor to the prominent ridges of Blue Mountain in the north and Blackoak Ridge in the southeast. Waterways like Swatara Creek and Tulpehocken Creek wind through numerous townships, supporting rural centers such as Crosskill Mills and Fredericksburg. This reconnaissance survey documents the area before 20th-century expansion, capturing the established grid of Lebanon and the many crossroads hamlets that defined the county's early economic life.